Recently, there are proposed various kinds of olfactory displays which present a fragrance (olfactory information) in cooperation with an audio-visual display of a television, a personal computer, etc. for a purpose of information presentation by which a high presence, a high immersion feeling and so on can be applied to a user. Here, in a case where a specific fragrance is to be presented for a certain degree of a long period of time, it is sufficient to simply diffuse a fragrance in a space. However, in order to present a fragrance in synchronization with a scene change of a content displayed by an audio-visual display, for example, a temporal control (temporal locality) of fragrance presentation becomes needed. Furthermore, in order to present a fragrance to only a target person, for example, a spatial control (spatial locality) of fragrance presentation becomes needed. Furthermore, if the temporal locality and the spatial locality for the fragrance presentation are implemented, not only an aromatic material to be used can be greatly saved but also a problem of a lingering fragrance can be solved. From these, an olfactory display which presents a fragrance controllable in terns of time and space, that is, an olfactory display which can present a fragrance within a range bounded in terms of time and space is expected.
The patent literature 1 discloses an example of a conventional olfactory display. The aroma generating apparatus of the patent literature 1 comprises an aromatic material accommodating portion which accommodates a solid-like aromatic material, and pumps are provided at an inlet side and an outlet side of the aromatic material accommodating portion, respectively. In generating the fragrance, the inlet side pump is rotated to send an air into the aromatic material accommodating portion, whereby an air (fragrance) to which the aroma is added can be pushed out of the aromatic material accommodating portion, and at the same time, by rotating the outlet side pump, the fragrance is discharged to an external from the fragrance discharging port.
Furthermore, another example of a conventional olfactory display is disclosed in the patent literature 2. A gas discharge apparatus of the patent literature 2 is an apparatus that is incorporated in a public information presenting apparatus to present a fragrance corresponding to a picture, and shoots a vortex ring having a fragrance component according to a principle of an air canon. Specifically, the gas discharge apparatus of the patent literature 2 comprises a plurality of fragrance discharge pipes having tip ends inserted between luminescence display elements. On an outer peripheral surface, there is provided with a fragrance store mechanism (fragrance source) via an airflow control plate for opening and closing a fragrance supply hole. At a rear end portion of the fragrance discharge pipe, there is an atmospheric layer that is provided with a bimorph piezoelectric device. Then, in shooting the fragrance, by rendering the fragrance supply hole in an opened state and by reducing an internal volume of the atmospheric layer by bending the bimorph piezoelectric inwardly, a vortex-ring-like mass of fragrance is shot from the fragrance discharge pipe.
However, in the art of the patent literature 1, the fragrance is merely pushed-out to the outside from the aromatic material accommodating portion by the rotation of a rotor of the pump, that is, the fragrance is merely diffused to a surrounding space, and therefore, the spatial control of the fragrance presentation is not considered. That is, the presentation of the fragrance within a range bounded in terms of space is not implemented. Furthermore, since structure is complex, there is a limit for a miniaturization.
Furthermore, in the technology of the patent literature 2, since a mass of fragrance is discharged by the principle of the air cannon, only momentary presentation of the fragrance can be performed, and therefore, it is impossible to perform continuous presentation of the fragrance not of pulsatile motion. Furthermore, since structure is complicated, there is a limit in a miniaturization, such as arranging the fragrance source outside a main body portion of a gas discharge apparatus consisting of the fragrance discharge pipe and the atmospheric layer.
Then, the inventors et al. proposed in the patent literature 3 an olfactory display capable of presenting a plurality of fragrances in a controllable manner in terms of time and space while attaining miniaturization of the apparatus. Specifically, the olfactory display of the patent literature 3 comprises a housing that is formed with a plurality of fragrance chambers divided by partitions. In each fragrance chamber, a solid-like fragrance source is accommodated and an airflow source comprising a diaphragm that is adhered with a piezoelectric device is provided. Furthermore, each fragrance chamber is communicated with an emission port via an individual fragrance path, and respective fragrance paths are joined to each other at a position near the emission port to form a single common path, and Venturi tube structure is provided in a joining portion.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 2004-121594 [A61 L 9/12]
Patent Literature 2: Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 2008-257216 [G09 F 19/00]
Patent Literature 3: Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 2012-30611 [A61L 9/12]